Team Canada beat Finland 4-2 in a tight game in front of 6,678 spectators in Tampere to win the third inline gold for the country and the second in four years. It crowns a great season for Canada in IIHF competition after having won gold medals in ice hockey at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“It feels great. It’s always a dream to win with your boys and we got exactly what we want, to beat the home team in the gold medal game. Today was our night. The crowd was amazing, all the country was there. It was high intensity. It was just a pleasure to be part of,” said Dave Hammond, who scored two goals for Team Canada.

One year ago Finland beat Canada 6-2 to win its first inline hockey gold in 11 years and many players on both sides were back in Tampere to battle for the gold medals after a mostly flawless campaign of both teams in the earlier games of this year’s Inline Hockey World Championship.

“It’s indescribable how it feels to win a World Championship. Coming in we knew they’re world champions, they’re the team to beat and if we want to be world champions we had to beat them. That’s an incredible hockey team we just beat. It was far from easy, they were pressing hard and the fans were fantastic today,” said Canadian goalkeeper Brett Leggat, who had a strong game with 31 saves.

“It was busy. The first period Finland came out just flying. We knew we had to weather the storm because they were going to come out hard because of the close to 7,000 fans here. I tried my best to keep us in the game and weather the storm and we managed to storm back thankfully.”

The Finns played better in the first period and Janne Laakkonen opened the scoring after a drop pass from Marko Virtala after 77 seconds of play.

However, only two-and-a-half minutes later Hammond tied the game at one. Skating towards the crease on the left side the Finns seemed to expect the pass while Hammond shot and scored.

The Finns had more scoring opportunities in the first period but couldn’t convert their 13-5 shot advantage into more goals. Throughout the game Finland outshot Canada 33-29.

Canada became stronger in the second period and didn’t allow the Finns that many scoring chances anymore. Instead Brett Bulmer sent a shot off from the right face-off dot through traffic into the top-left corner to give Canada its first lead of the game at 7:42 of the second period.

The Finns had trouble to find back in a game that was disciplined with the first penalty call after 26 minutes of play and with a strong puck-possession game by the Canadians that at times seemed frustrating for the home team and its crowd. But it served the Canadians’ purpose as the game time was running down while the 2-1 lead for Team Canada stayed.

When Kristian Kuusela had to go to the penalty box for tripping, Hammond with a goal scored from ten metres made the challenge even bigger to the Finns with just 6:12 left in regulation time.

“We played like we wanted to play and Canada played a very good game. I’m not so disappointed about the way we played but the result is not good for us. It wasn’t good enough, Canada was better and that’s it,” Finland head coach Timo Nurmberg said.

Finland took its time-out with 5:11 left. With 4:40 left Jimi Palanto scored the goal the Finns were longing for to cut the Canadian lead with a shot from the left side after a drop pass from Kuusela.

It was short-lived hope though. One-and-a-half minutes later Brendan Baumgartner scored the 4-2 marker for Canada on a counter-attack after a horizontal pass from Adam Ross. It was his first goal of the tournament and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Finns were pushing for the remaining three minutes but didn’t overcome a strong Canadian defence anymore and had to settle for silver this time.

Bronze Medal Game

Sweden vs. Slovakia 5-4 (0-1, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1)Highlights

Sweden won its first medal since taking home silver two years ago in Dresden. Tre Kronor beat Slovakia 5-4 in the bronze medal game.

“We’re of course satisfied. We’re a very young team with many young guys so we are pretty happy with what we have reached here,” said Victor Backman. The 24-year-old, who most recently played ice hockey for Herning in the top Danish league, scored two goals en route to Tre Kronor’s win over a pesky Slovak team.

The Swedes know how to medal at the Inline Hockey Worlds while Slovakia was aiming at its first medal since silver at home in Bratislava in 2008. Like in the last few games the Slovaks were the underdogs with fewer scoring opportunities but they fought hard and were dangerous once they managed to shoot.

It took some time but with 71 seconds left in the first period Tomas Jasko’s shot from the right face-off circle opened the scoring.

It became even better for the Slovaks early in the second period when at 3:00 Juraj Jurik made it 2-0 by capitalizing on his own rebound after a blocked distance shot. But 19 seconds later Backman replied for the Swedes after outskating Adam Simonic on the right side to beat Vladimir Neumann from the right. And at 8:27 Emil Bejmo beat Neumann with a flat shot from the face-off circle to make it 2-2 before the half-time break.

At 6:57 of the third period Backman scored his second goal of the day to give Sweden the lead for the first time and three minutes later Andreas Svensson made it 4-2 on a power-play goal from the right face-off circle.

Again the game went back and forth and 19 seconds after the fourth Swedish goal Jurik had little opposition to skate straight to the crease and beat Ludvig Engsund for the 4-3 goal.

Slovakia still had its chances to tie the game again but with 2:42 left in regulation time Andreas Jensen was right in front of the crease to score on a rebound after a blocked Svensson shot to extend the lead to 5-3.

The Slovaks were unlucky in the dying minutes of the game for which they pulled the goalie. Miroslav Preisinger’s penalty for a high-sticking infraction against Backman didn’t exactly help but with 3.5 seconds left Tomas Jasko at least scored the 5-4 goal but that one came too late to change the outcome of the game. It was the Swedes who were awarded the bronze medals.

Relegation Game for 7th Place

Germany vs. Slovenia 5-4 (1-2, 1-0, 2-1, 1-1)Highlights

Slovenia has to go back to the Division I in inline hockey. Germany won the relegation game against the Slovenes 5-4 and finished the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship in seventh place.

Horka Sekesi opened the scoring already at 1:54. He got a loose puck right in front of the net after the Slovenes had blocked Soren Sturm from shooting. At 7:37 Jure Sotlar tied it up with an extra attacker on the field during a delayed penalty call and a shot from the left face-off dot. And after a long shot almost from the red line one minute later Rok Jakopic made it 2-1.

On a German attack at 8:30 of the second period Daniel Krzizok scored on a rebound to tie the game at two just after the Slovenes hadn’t capitalized on a power play and a lengthy 5-on-4 during a delayed penalty call. And at 3:20 of the third period Christian Poetzel gave Germany the lead. At 6:38 Poetzel scored again when he capitalized on a rebound during a power play, but Slovenia reacted immediately with a Simon Zerdin goal to cut the German lead to 4-3.

With a shot from centre ice Sturm restored the two-goal lead for Germany at 1:56 of the fourth period in what would eventually become the game-winning goal.

Slovenia tried to react and with 3:21 left in regulation time Sotlar made use of confusion in the German defence to cut the deficit to one goal and enable Slovenia to battle for a tie in the dying minutes of the game. But the 5-4 score stayed until the final buzzer.

DIVISION I

Gold Medal Game

Croatia vs. Australia 5-4 (1-1, 0-1, 3-1, 0-1, 1-0) OTHighlights

Croatia will for the first time play in the top division of the Inline Hockey World Championship after beating Australia 5-4 in the gold medal game of the Division I competition thanks to Igor Jacmenjak’s game winner eight seconds into overtime.

The 35-year-old, who also played in 15 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship events, also contributed two assists to the win in a game that went back and forth.

“It’s not possible to tell you the feelings. It’s a big thing for Croatian inline hockey. We are so young in this sport, we just played five years in this division and next year we will play in the top division,” Jacmenjak said.

“We just came here and thought maybe to play for a bronze medal like last year but during the tournament and when we saw that Argentina beat Latvia we knew that everything was possible here.”

For the fifth year in a row only one place separated these two nations in the final standings just that this time they played for Division I gold and promotion to the top division. For Australia it was the second time in a row they played in the final and again only the silver medals were left for the team from Down Under.

There was neither a clear favourite nor a clearly better team and both had some minutes of lead during the match. Croatia had the first goal of the game when Marko Tadic deflected a vertical pass from Jan Novotny at 1:42. But with 3.6 seconds left in the first period Steve Best sent off a perfect shot to the top-left corner from behind the face-off circle to tie the game.

Croatia missed out on two power plays during the second period but at 8:48 it was Australia who for the first time gained the lead. Jordan Gavin scored after a long pass to the crease from Liam Jeffries. 54 seconds later the Australians were cheering again on an alleged goal, however, the puck went from the left to the right post and bounced back from there without having even touched the goal line, therefore the 2-1 score remained after a short video review.

Croatia came out hot from the half-time break and after 71 seconds Ivan Jankovic tied the game at two for Croatia. However, at 4:20 Sean Jones scored with a precise shot from between the face-off circles to beat Mate Tomljevonic high but 30 seconds later Matija Milicic tied the game at three

With 77 seconds left in the third period Domen Vedlin scored for Croatia after a side pass in front of the crease from Jacmenjak to give the Croats the lead but after 55 seconds of play in the fourth period the Australians reacted with a goal from Adam St Clair after a distance shot from behind the left face-off circle to tie the game again.

Overtime had to decide and the decision came just as the extra period started. After the opening face-off Jacmenjak took the puck, skated to the Australian goal, deked defenceman Antony Collins and then goalie Michael James to score the 5-4 goal after just eight seconds for a bench-clearing celebration and singing of the goal song by the Croatian players before celebrating with the gold medals and the trophy.

Bronze Medal Game

Great Britain vs. Argentina 3-2 (1-0, 1-1, 1-0, 0-1)Highlights

Great Britain missed the return to the top division but as a consolation earned the bronze medals of the Division I competition after beating Argentina 3-2. For the Argentines the fourth-place finish is still the best since the Inline Hockey World Championship has been played with 16 teams in two divisions starting in 2002.

Sam Jones opened the scoring at 3:54 after a long horizontal pass from Karl Niamatali and early in the second period Great Britain made it 2-0 with a similar goal. After a great diagonal pass to the crease from Nathan Finney, Niamatali was alone in front of Argentine goalie Lucas Marcolongo to beat him for the second goal, but 12 seconds later Rodrigo Irisarri brought Argentina on the scoreboard with the 2-1 goal.

Although Argentina became stronger, it was the British who hit the back of the net again after the half-time break. James Archer ended a two-on-one with the 3-1 goal for Great Britain.

But the game was far from over yet. At 1:17 of the fourth period the group of Argentine fans on the tribune went wild when Hernan Insua Shanly scored his team’s second marker on a power play.

Argentina had a power play and played with an extra attacker and the goalie pulled for the last two minutes of the game but the British defence withstood the Argentine storm to earn the bronze medals.

Relegation Game for 5th Place

Latvia vs. Hungary 3-4 (0-2, 1-0, 1-0, 1-2)

After an unbeaten preliminary round campaign, Latvia ends up empty-handed after the surprising quarter-final defeat against Argentina and now a 4-3 loss in the relegation game to Hungary. Hungary thus stays in Division I with a fifth-place finish while Latvia, Austria and Bulgaria will be relegated to the qualification tournaments to battle for a return in 2017.

Imre Pederdi, who also played in nine IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship events, was the hero with two goals including the game winner with 27 seconds left in regulation time.

Although Latvia had twice as many shots in the first period it was the Hungarians who opened the scoring with goals from Peterdi and Vilmos Gallo scored in a span of 25 seconds in the fifth minute of play.

However, the Latvians managed to react. Early in the second period Tomass Zeile brought Latvia on the scoreboard and late in the third period Aleksandrs Kercs tied the game with a penalty shot.

The game went back and forth in the decisive fourth period. At 3:09 Akos Kiss regained the lead for Hungary but with 2:04 left in regulation time and the goalie pulled Aleksandrs Galkins tied it again.

With just 27 seconds to go is was Peterdi who scored his second goal of the day for the 4-3 game winner to secure Hungary a spot in the next Inline Hockey World Championship.

Canada will challenge host Finland in the final after beating Sweden 6-2 in what was a one-goal game for most of the match.

The Canadians gave up an initial lead and had to fight back before scoring four unanswered goals in the last period to seal the win. Dave Hammond was most successful with a hat trick while Josh Foote scored two goals.

“It feels good. We came into the game to play the Finns for the gold. You always want to play the best on their barn,” Hammond said.

It was Foote, who opened the scoring at 7:18 of the opening frame after a diagonal pass to the crease from Hammond.

The game remained tight but mostly scoreless for the rest of the first and second periods and both teams missed out on several power plays.

With 1:36 left in the second period Carl Berglund sent off a shot from behind the face-off circle while two Canadians were blocking his way and found the gap in the Canadian net to tie the game.

69 seconds into the third period the Swedes scored again. Emil Bejmo skated from the left and despite two Canadian skaters and a goalie in between he managed to give Sweden the 2-1 lead with a shot from a sharp angle.

It was a short-lived lead though. 57 seconds later Hammond scored his second marker when he shot the puck from the left face-off dot to tie the game at two.

The fourth period was owned by Canada. At 3:21 Foote skated through on the right side and beat Swedish goalie Brett Leggat through a small corridor between him and the goal line from the right side of the crease. Three minutes later Hammond scored his third goal from a similar position to make it 4-2 with 5:46 left in regulation time. And two-and-a-half minutes later Brett Bulmer made it 5-2 on a breakaway.

With just a small ray of hope left the Swedes pulled their goalie with just over three minutes left in regulation time but it was to no avail. Christopher Santiago shot the puck into the empty net for his first-ever World Championship goal and the final score of 6-2.

“Now we play Finland tomorrow. It will be crowded and with a lot of energy,” Hammond was looking forward to the final game. In a rematch of last year’s final Canada will play Finland at 20:00 local time (1 PM ET).

Finland vs. Slovakia 4-3 (1-0, 1-0, 1-1, 0-2, 0-0, 1-0) SOHighlights

Like in many games at this tournament Finland earned a convincing lead but then the Slovaks fought back from a 3-0 deficit. Kristian Kuusela’s goal in the fifth shootout round and Sasu Hovi’s miraculous block save eventually led Finland to the gold medal game.

“It was a pretty exciting moment after five rounds of shots, now we can celebrate a little bit,” Kuusela said. "But we made the game hard for ourselves. Slovakia defended pretty well.”

Initially it didn’t look like a tight game, rather like business as usual for the Finns’ strong Inline Hockey World Championship campaign. Until 28 minutes of play the lions roared and built a 3-0 cushion, had a 21-6 shot advantage at halfway through the game.

At 4:51 of the opening frame Marko Virtala was left alone on the left side, skated toward the crease to beat Slovak goalie Vladimir Neumann with a high shot from a short distance.

Also the second period ended with one Finnish goal. At 3:59 Jimi Palanto beat Neumann on his glove side with a shot from the face-off dot.

Everything seemed to work well for the Finns who had their captain Jesse Saarinen back after two games. He had left the team to join his wife for the birth of their child before returning in time for the semi-final game.

Suomi remained in control of the game also early after the half-time break. At 3:58 of the third period Markus Jokinen finished a rush on the left side with the 3-0 goal.

Juraj Jurik brought Slovakia eventually on the scoreboard at 8:41 soon after a power play not only to spoil Sasu Hovi’s shutout but to start a comeback the Finnish fans spoiled with clear wins by their team hardly expected.

At 1:43 of the fourth period Peter Novajovsky skated from the right side and sent a shot off the face-off dot to beat Hovi again.

The Slovaks gained hope and were pushing for another goal while the Finns hoped for counter-attacks and were close to the fourth goal on a breakaway. However, five minutes later Tomas Mery sent of a shot from the right face-off circle to tie the game at three.

The remainder of the period ended scoreless as did the overtime period. Also in the shootout tie-breaking rounds had to decide after a 1-1 score after three shots each. In the fifth round Kuusela beat Neumann through his five-hole while Finnish goalie Hovi made a huge block save in the air in Mery’s attempt to seal Finland the win and a place in tomorrow’s gold medal game at 20:00 local time.

“Every team is a hard team at this stage as we saw today, we take whoever comes,” Kuusela said about the final on Saturday night.

After losing to Sweden in the quarter-finals Team USA reacted with a 5-2 win over Slovenia to secure its top-division spot.

Unlike yesterday against Canada, the Slovenes weren’t able to start the game with a firework of goals. Derrick Burnett already opened the scoring for Team USA after 95 seconds of play but at 4:40 Anze Lonear tied it for Slovenia.

Five minutes later Cody Kettler regained the lead for the Americans, who outshot Slovenia 25-15 during the game.

Travis Noe with a power-play goal on a high shot from the face-off circle extended the lead for the Americans to 3-1 at 9:14 of the second period.

After the half-time break the Americans continued to be in control of the game and added two more markers from David Makowski and Tyler Spezia to seal the win. Slovenia’s 5-2 goal from Ales Remar with 16 seconds left in regulation time was too little and too late.

Team USA finishes the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship in fifth place while Slovenia will battle against relegation tomorrow in the seventh-place game against Germany at 12:00 local time (11:00 CET).

Czech Republic vs. Germany 4-1 (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 3-0)Highlights

The Czech Republic stays in the top division after beating Germany 4-1. The Czechs dominated and clearly outshot their opponent 49-18.

Still, it needs some patience until the Czechs succeeded in the offensive skill that matters most: scoring. After a scoreless opening period the Czechs succeeded at 8:26 of the second period with Pavel Strycek’s shot from 20 metres.

At 8:54 of the third period Germany managed to tie the game. Max Schmidle skated from the right side all the way to the left side around the Czech crease to score over goalie Ondrej Haloda with a shot from close to the goal line.

In the fourth period the Czechs had their best period and granted the Germans almost no scoring opportunities while Martin Vozdecy, Patrik Sebek and Strycek with his second marker netted three goals for the Czech 4-1 win.

The Czechs will end the tournament in sixth place while the Germans will have to play the relegation game against Slovenia tomorrow at 11:00 local time (10:00 CET).

DIVISION I

Semi-Finals

Croatia vs. Argentina 7-0 (1-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

Argentina has been the surprise team of the last two game days at the Division I tournament in Tampere but saw its streak come to an end in Croatia’s 7-0 win, the same result like in the group stage.

The Croats remain in good shape and haven’t lost a game since starting with a 5-1 defeat to Hungary.

Mario Novak opened the scoring at 7:17 of a first period in which most action happened in Croatia’s offensive zone. After Agustin Chiaravalloti had missed out on a penalty shot in the second period the Croats extended the lead to 3-0 and added four more markers in the second half of the game.

Novak and Igor Jacmenjak scored a pair of goals each, the other markers came from Domen Vedlin, Ivan Jankovic and Matija Kopajtic.

Croatia will take on Australia in the gold medal game that will be played at the main rink tomorrow at 15:00 local time (14:00 CET, 22:00 AEST).

Great Britain vs. Australia 4-7 (2-0, 2-3, 0-2, 0-2)

Great Britain will not battle for a return to the top division on the last day of competition. Instead Australia will play in the gold medal game for the second year in a row after beating the British 7-4.

It was a tight game with the better start for Great Britain thanks to three unanswered goals from Dan Hutchinson, Sam Jones and Rob Shelton. But unfortunately for the British they have been good at this tournament in not maintaining such margins and it was no different against Australia just that the team from Down Under succeeded in its comeback attempt.

Twenty seconds after the third British marker early in the second period Liam Jeffries replied with the first Australian goal and at 5:13 Brenton Fitzgerald scored on the power play to make it 3-2. Ben Lowe replied for Great Britain but 2:39 before the half-time break Adam St Clair cut the British lead to just one goal.

Australia won the game in the second half of the game with four unanswered goals. Jonathon Bremner tied the game at four at 2:50 of the third period and St Clair’s second goal gave Australia the lead.

The Australians didn’t allow Great Britain to come back and added two more markers from Liam McKay and Sean Jones in the fourth period to seal their place in the Division I final while Great Britain will have to play for the bronze medals.

Placement Games

Latvia vs. Bulgaria 14-0 (2-0, 1-0, 4-0, 7-0)

Like in the preliminary round Latvia had little trouble defeating Bulgaria and blanked the Bulgarians 14-0.

The Bulgarians managed to keep the net clean for over nine minutes when Roberts Lipsbergs opened the goal galore. Aleksandrs Galkins and Aleksandrs Kercs each scored a hat trick, Roberts Lipsbergs and Viesturs Cimermanis each had a pair of goals.

With the win Latvia reached the fifth-place game where they will battle for survival in Division I against Hungary tomorrow at 12:00 local time (11:00 CET). The loser of that game as well as Austria and Bulgaria will be relegated to the European qualification tournament in 2016.

Hungary vs. Austria 7-1 (1-1, 2-0, 0-0, 4-0)

Austria opened the scoring with its only scoring chance of the first period thanks to Andre Niec’s goal but Hungary was too strong and improved its offensive production by the end of the game to beat Austria 7-1.

Six different players scored for Hungary. Vilmos Gallo, who was credited with the game-winning goal, had two goals while Attila Rafaj, Istvan Terbocs, Akos Kiss, Balazs Bartalis and Szilard Sandor each scored one goal.

With this result Austria is relegated from the Division I and will have to play in the European qualification tournament next year. Hungary will play for survival in the fifth-place game against Latvia tomorrow at 12:00 local time (11:00 CET).

In arguably one of the craziest playoff games in Inline Hockey World Championship history Canada came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat Slovenia 6-5.

Until the 28th minute the Slovenes were leading by four goals before the Canadians found back to their game with five unanswered goals. The Slovenes tied it but Thomas Woods scored the game-winning goal with 89 seconds left. Canada outshot Slovenia 32-27.

“It’s still rollercoaster emotions for me and the team. The second half of the game shows the character of our team,” Woods said.

But how could Canada play so bad in the beginning and walk straight into the Slovenes’ trap again and again?

“I can’t put one reason for what went wrong. We were not mentally in it. We didn’t have the warrior mentality,” Woods said about the beginning of the game.

Already after a little more than ten minutes the Slovenes built up a three-goal cushion.

A great, long diagonal pass from Nejc Berlisk to the crease was picked up by Jure Sotlar for the underdog’s first goal at 5:47. Three-and-a-half minutes later Sotlar scored again when deking Canadian netminder Brett Leggat to beat him on the left side.

At 10:07 Ales Remar was stopped from behind by Brett Bulmer and was awarded a penalty shot he converted with a precise shot for the 3-0 goal. Slovenia continued scoring in the second frame. At 3:16 Rok Jakopic capitalized on the rebound after an initial shot from Kleman Sodrznik to make it even 4-0.

It’s a score that hardly allows a comeback, however, the Canadians have in the past shown their ability to score many goals and in the half-time break the players made it clear that they didn’t give up the game.

Eventually Dave Hammond scored Canada’s first goal with a power-play marker at 3:24 of the third period with a precise shot from between the face-off circles. Adam Ross added a shorthanded goal following a shot from Josh Foote two minutes later and with the next shift Foote scored the 4-3 goal himself on a breakaway to force Slovenian head coach Ales Fajdiga to use his time-out. But it was to no avail since Adam Ross scored on a power play at 7:01 to tie the game at four.

The Canadian scoring machine stayed on and at 8:43 Kyle Henderson capitalized on a rebound after a Foote shot to give his team the lead for the first time.

But despite the momentum swing the Slovenes didn’t surrender. At 5:12 of the fourth period Mateuz Erman tied the game at five on a power play and both teams had chances to go ahead with a sixth marker in the last minutes of regulation time.

With 89 seconds left it was Woods who scored the game winner for the Canadian side. Although he fell down at the right face-off dot, none of the two Slovenes were able to take away the puck. So Woods stood up, took the disc, skated to the goal and beat Tomaz Trelc with a high shot for the 6-5 goal.

Leggat made a great glove save with 3.2 seconds left before the Canadians celebrated their win. But they did it quietly both on the field and in the dressing room first having to digest the rollercoaster game and learn from the positives and negatives before tomorrow’s semi-final against Sweden.

Finland vs. Germany 6-3 (3-2, 2-0, 0-0, 1-1)Highlights

Host Finland continued its undefeated streak with a 6-3 victory over Germany in the quarter-finals. After a thrilling start the Finns took control of the game with two goals in the second period while managing to keep the Germans away from their zone for most of the second half of the game.

“We had a great game. We were patient and kept the puck with us very well,” Lasse Lappalainen said.

“We’re in the semi-finals, playing for the medals sounds good. I hope a lot of fans will be at the rink tomorrow.”

Jimi Palanto opened the scoring for Finland at 3:29 with a slap shot from 18 metres into the top-right corner. Two minutes later Markus Jokinen concluded a two-on-one with Lappalainen by beating German netminder Thomas Ower through his five-hole.

Germany reacted with Soren Sturm’s goal after a great diagonal pass to the crease from Max Schmidle only 82 seconds later and a few shifts later Schmidle scored himself to capitalize on a power play for the 2-2 goal.

The Germans showed they don’t want to make it easy for the Finns but the home team managed to react quickly with a marker from Marko Virtala after Janne Laakkonen’s centring pass. At 3:05 of the second period Lappalainen added the 4-2 goal shortly before the expiration of a Finnish power play.

With 9.7 seconds left before the half-time break and the local crowd screaming “maali” to demand a goal Kristian Kuusela made it 5-2 after a drop pass from behind the goal line from Palanto.

The Germans changed goalkeepers for the third period and for a long time Jochen Vollmer was able to keep his net clean. In the second half of the game the action was limited to a cautious Finnish puck-possession play in the opponent’s zone and a German team that didn’t make the impression of being much of a threat for the Finns anymore.

Petri Partanen after a 360-degree turn in the offensive zone scored the 6-2 goal at 6:34 of the fourth period and Daniel Menge scored Germany’s third goal with 48.3 seconds left after a nice deke against Mikko Pukka and on his second shot after a save from Juha Taponen.

Czech Republic vs. Slovakia 3-4 (1-1, 1-1, 0-2, 1-0)Highlights

Slovakia won its first Inline Hockey World Championship game since 2008 against the Czech Republic and moves on to the semi-finals after the 4-3 victory. Already in 2008 it was a quarter-final win against the big brothers, 6-5 in overtime on home soil in Bratislava.

In the last six years Slovakia only finished better than the Czechs one time in 2013 when they also reach the semi-finals after a 4-3 over Finland.

The Czechs had the better start and earned the lead when on a breakaway David Hrazdira sent a high pass back to Filip Kutak, who opened the scoring at 8:30.

The Czechs outshot the Slovaks 12-4 in the first period but didn’t manage to end it with a lead. With one minute left Roman Simunek scored a shorthanded goal after a horizontal pass from Jakub Ruckay. His shot hit Czech goalie Ondrej Haloda on his upper body and from there went into the net.

At 3:59 Slovakia was in front for the first time. Ruckay sent a diagonal pass from left to the right side of the crease where Boris Ertel scored into the empty net.

“We are very happy because it’s a big game between the Czech Republic and Slovakia and a big win,” Ruckay said and was also happy about his great passes that led to two goals.

“I’m happy because it’s my first points here. I’m the oldest guy here on our team so I have to do it with passes,” he said with a smile.

But the Czechs tied the game at two five minutes later when after some passes through the Slovak box play line Patrik Sebek scored with a shot from the left side. It was a well-deserved tie for the Czechs going into the half-time break after having outshot the Slovaks 22-10.

However, the Slovak team showed another time that they shouldn’t be counted out. 23 seconds into the third period with a power play taken over from the previous frame, Tomas Jasko scored with a shot from ten metres from between the face-off circles. And two minutes later Juraj Jurik skated into the Czech zone and sent off a laser of a shot into the top-right corner for the 4-2 lead forcing Czech head coach Jan Besser to call for a time-out and replacing goalie Haolda by Ondrej Jirkuv, who quickly got some work after a penalty call against Martin Vozdecky.

The Czechs had to react and had three power plays during the rest of the period but didn’t manage to overcome the Slovak defence.

With 3:52 left in the fourth period Michal Simo eventually managed to beat Neumann after a horizontal pass from Sebek. The 4-3 marker now forced Slovak coach Imrich Antal to use his time-out and prepare his team for a battle to defend the one-goal lead. The Czechs had another power play and pulled their goalie but to no avail. The Slovak bench broke out in cheering when the game clock counted down to 0:00 and the 4-3 victory became a fact.

USA vs. Sweden 2-5 (0-0, 1-3, 1-0, 0-2)Highlights

Team USA outshot Tre Kronor 33-18 but it wasn’t enough. An efficient Swedish offence and a strong goaltender Ludvig Engsund, who had 31 saves, helped Sweden upset the Americans in the quarter-finals. Despite a rejuvenated team the Swedes reached the semi-finals for the third time in a row while the Americans missed the semis for only the second time in the last eight years.

“It was a new game. We had nothing to lose,” Engsund described the Swedes’ feeling following the quarter-final win hinting the tough 9-1 loss to Finland in the last preliminary-round game before joining the Swedish dressing room covered by loud celebration.

In short the first half of the game and in particular the beginning can be described by an American team that had more chances but the Swedes had the better opportunities and capitalized on them.

After a scoreless opening fame Derrick Burnett gave Team USA the lead after a drop pass from Matt White but three-and-half-minutes later the Swedes tied the game when Andreas Jensen in front of the crease diverted a quick side pass from Victor Backman.

At 8:44 Markus Kinisjarvi gained the lead for Sweden when he fast-tracked the American defence and beat goalie Troy Redmann from the left side. With 12 seconds left before the half-time break Rasmus Dahlberg Karlsson scored the 3-1 goal with a distance shot from the face-off circle.

It was surely not what the Americans had in mind who in the past seven years had missed the semi-finals only once in Ingolstadt 2012.

At 4:27 Team USA cut the deficit to one goal. Nielsson Arcibal was credited for the marker after a shot from White through traffic was diverted.

The Americans were pushing for the third goal and clearly outshot the Swedes in the second half of the game but the Swedish defence was strong and allowed the Americans only one power play.

“It was disappointing to lose like that especially after the start into the game,” Arcibal said.

While the American efforts were fruitless, Emil Beijmo and Marcus Lissang scored two goals into the empty net in the dying minutes of the game when the Americans pulled goalie Redmann.

The Swedes now have to wait to know their opponent for tomorrow. A re-match with Finland is possible if the favourites win in the other games.

Also the Division I tournament has its upset. Latvia, which performed in the preliminary round like a candidate for promotion, surprisingly lost to Argentina in the quarter-finals. The South Americans built on their great performance against Hungary to beat Latvia 5-4 with Hernan Insua Shanly scoring a hat trick, Rodrigo Irisarri netting a pair of goals and a fine 35-save performance from goaltender Lucas Marcolongo.

Irisarri opened the scoring coming from the penalty bench at 10:43 of the opening frame but with three seconds left in the second period Rudolfs Maslovskis tied the game for Latvia.

The third period brought the change of fortunes for Argentina. Insua Shanly scored 72 seconds into the period before Irisarri added a power-play marker and Insua Shanly netted another goal while Argentina was playing shorthanded. To Aleksandrs Kercs’ 4-2 goal the Argentines reacted with the hat trick marker and eventual game-winning goal from Insua Shanly.

Latvia tried everything to come back, changed the goalie and scored two more goals in the fourth period. Miks Lipsbergs made it 5-3 and with the goalie pulled early Artjoms Ogorodnikovs scored the 5-4 marker with 99 seconds left on the game clock but the score stayed until the final buzzer causing a huge celebration by the Argentines, who have never before performed as well as this year in the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship.

Croatia vs. Bulgaria 23-0 (6-0, 4-0, 7-0, 6-0)

Whether it was at equal strength, power play or box play, the Croats scored one goal after another for the highest score of this tournament, a 23-0 quarter-final blanking of winless Bulgaria.

Bulgaria changed goalkeepers three times and 13 different Croatian players scored goals, most often Niksa Trstenjak with four and Ivan Jankovic with three. Jan Novotny, Marko Tadic, Domen Vedlin, Borna Silovic and Mario Cunko each scored a pair of goals.

Great Britain vs. Hungary 7-5 (0-0, 3-1, 2-0, 2-4)

Great Britain reached the semi-finals of the Division I competition after edging Hungary 7-5.

In a tight encounter Great Britain changed the flow of the game with three unanswered goals in the second period, two from Rob Shelton and one from Ben Lowe. One-and-a-half minutes later Hungary’s Akos Kiss netted the puck for the 3-1 half-time score.

The British extended the lead with two third-period goals from Sam Jones and Joseph Ganley but despite the 5-1 lead the game got new excitement in the end when Hungary worked hard and almost successfully on a miracle during the last seven minutes of regulation time.

First Attila Rafaj scored the longed for second goal on a power play, then Vilmos Gallo added two more markers to make it 5-4. Dan Hutchinson reacted with goal number six for Great Britain but in the next shift Szilard Sandor made it 6-5 with 2:40 to go in regulation time – still enough to work on the game-tying goal.

However, the Hungarians didn’t manage to score again and with 17 seconds left Lowe sealed the win with his second goal for the final score of 7-5.

Australia vs. Austria 6-3 (2-0, 0-2, 2-1, 2-0)

After a strong preliminary round the Australians confirmed their good shape in the quarter-finals and reached the semis in a 6-3 victory over Austria. The team from Down Under outshot Austria 13-3 in the opening frame and earned a 2-0 lead with goals from Brenton Fitzgerald and Lee Turner, but Austria fought back and tied the game at two after goals scored by Harry Lange and Andre Niec.

Australia regained the lead in the second period with unanswered goals from Antony Collins and Sean Jones before Daniel Obersteiner netted the 4-3 marker for Austria to keep the score in reach.

However, the Australians extended the lead early in the fourth period with goals from Michael Haynes and Jonathon Bremner for the final score of 6-3.

The eternal rivalry between the two North American teams continued in the preliminary round. Like in last year’s semi-final win for Canada the game was tied after regulation time. Again Canada was the winner after Dave Hammond’s overtime goal.

Team USA had the better start with two goals but the momentum changed when Canada scored three goals in the second period including a pair of markers from Thomas Woods.

“It feels good. We are rivals and I have friends on their team I often play against. Everytime we play them we know it’s going to be a tight game,” Woods said. “It was a team effort and everybody around us was playing well.”

The Americans outshot Canada 7-3 in the first period. Tyler Spezia’s goal gave the U.S. the lead capitalizing on the first penalty of the game. Early in the second period Derrick Burnett made it 2-0 for Team USA but then Canada eventually showed a reaction.

Adam Ross scored the first goal for Canada at 4:04 of the second period when he skated through the American defence on the right and beat Troy Redmann with a shot to the far side of the net.

Matt White restored Team USA’s two-goal lead with a shot from between the face-off circles – the second power-play goal for the Americans in two attempts, and the last as Canada wouldn’t take any more penalties.

The Canadians didn’t give up and Woods cut the American lead at 10:30. And after a nice double-pass play with Brett Bulmer with 27 seconds left before the half-time break he scored again to tie the game at three.

The game remained scoreless for a while until at 4:15 of the fourth period Team Canada gained the lead for the first time on a distance shot from Chris Rauckman.

Now the Americans had to react and covered Canadian goalie Brett Leggat with shots. It didn’t seem to work out until White had another great moment. He fast-tracked the Canadian defence with a rush along the left boards, went between Peter Kavaya and Travis Noe close to the crease to shoot the puck behind Leggat. With 3:21 left the game was re-launched with a 4-4 tie.

The teams were cautious in the extra period but couldn’t prevent thrilling rushes on both sides. At 3:43 Dave Hammond led a quick attack of the Canadians and hammered the puck in for the 5-4 game-winning goal.

The win earns Canada first place in the group and a quarter-final clash with winless Slovenia while Team USA will have to continue against Sweden on Thursday.

Finland vs. Sweden 9-1 (2-0, 2-0, 1-0, 4-1)Highlights

In the preliminary-round game most anticipated by the local crowd Finland steamrolled its neighbour Sweden 9-1 in front of 4,414 fans in Tampere.

Mikko Pukka netted the puck four times while Jimi Palanto and Marko Virtala had two markers each. Janne Laakkonen also scored for Finland while Robin Sjoren scored the only goal for Sweden.

Sasu Hovi had a great night in the Finnish with 27 saves as Finland outshot Sweden 36-28.

“It was a good game that we wanted to win,” Pukka said. “Most important is that we won the game not matter what score but it’s always nice to score. We got better every game here.”

Finland opened the scoring at 3:37 when Virtala skated through the Swedish defence on the right and beat Swedish goaltender Ludvig Engsund on the left side. Three-and-a-half minutes later Laakkonen doubled the lead by scoring on his own rebound for the 2-0 first-period score.

The Swedes also had their chances to score but Hovi had an excellent start in the Finnish net while his teammates took care of the goals.

Palanto scored the 3-0 goal with a precise shot at 7:09 of the second period and 80 seconds later Pukka deflected a shot into the Swedish net after a horizontal pass from Palanto on a well executed power play.

Also in the third period the Swedes had trouble scoring on Hovi and didn’t manage to capitalize on a double minor against Palanto. And to make it worse, with a delayed penalty call against Sweden Virtanen made it 5-0 for Finland with a shot that went in just under the crossbar.

Sweden eventually got itself onto the scoreboard at 3:01 of the fourth period when team captain Robin Sjoren found the space on the floor and in the net to score the 5-1 marker with a shot to the far side. But instead of a Swedish comeback the fans in Tampere saw Finland increase the score to lopsided spheres.

43 seconds after the Swedish goal Pukka answered with the 6-1 marker after Palanto’s pass from behind the net and just over two minutes he added another one after deflecting Virtala’s pass to the crease before Palanto also scored another marker for the 8-1 score.

With 2.7 left on the game clock Pukka was again all smile when he scored his fourth goal of the night for the final score of 9-1.

Germany vs. Slovakia 1-2 (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1) SOHighlights

Slovakia got its first win in a 2-1 shootout win against Germany. Vladimir Neumann shone with 41 saves.

Germany and Slovakia had both lost to the North American teams in the group stage and challenged each other until the penalty shootout before Slovakia got the first win of the tournament with Tomas Jakos’ two shootout goals.

Although Germany outshot the Slovaks 42-26, it remained an open and low-scoring game also thanks to excellent goaltending from Neumann and Germany’s Jochen Vollmer.

At 6:29 of the first period Germany opened the scoring. Yannik Baier sent a pass from behind the opponent’s net to Christian Poetzel but it hit an opponent’s stick and went in from there. It was a lucky goal but a well-deserved lead considering the 14-3 shots on goal in Germany’s favour in the first period.

“It was a tough game. We knew we had to win if we wanted to be third in our group,” said Neumann, who in the winter plays ice hockey for HO Hamikovo in the third-tier Slovak league.

“In the first period we didn’t do what we said in the locker room. We had a lot of penalty kills but we got through and in the second period we started to play our game and played well in defence.”

The Slovaks improved their game both offensively and defensively in the second period and at 7:26 they tied it up when Roman Simunek’s shot from 15 metres went in behind a screened Vollmer.

Both teams had chances to decide the game during regulation time but the goaltenders kept their net clean also during the five-minute overtime period to force a shootout decision.

The Czechs opened the scoring after eight minutes of play during their second man advantage. Pavel Strycek was positioned well in front of the net to capitalize on a rebound after a Michal Simo shot from the left side.

Although the Czechs outshot the Slovenes, their opponent played a competitive game. With a nice backhand shot Jure Sotlar tied the game for Slovenia at 6:58 of the second period. He skated on the right and found the gap between Czech defenceman Jan Zahradnicek and goalie Ondrej Haloda.

Saso Rajsar even had the chance to gain the lead for Slovenia on a breakaway but his attempt ended at Haloda and the Czechs reacted immediately on the other side.

Tomas Rubes skated from right to left to the crease and scored magnificently with a high shot from an acute angle when Slovenian goalie Tomaz Trelc went down. Only 70 seconds after regaining the lead Mikulas Zboril scored the 3-1 goal for the Czech Republic with a perfect shot from the face-off circle to the far side to leave the ice for the half-time break with a two-goal cushion.

After a scoreless third period Rajsar cut Slovenia’s deficit to one goal when he capitalized on a rebound after a long shot from defenceman Miha Brus to set up a challenge for the Czechs in the last nine minutes of regulation time but it was too little to tie the game again.

The Czechs are now in second place before tonight’s Finland-Sweden game while Slovenia finished the group in last place and will play the top-ranked team of Group B – Team USA or Canada – in Thursday’s quarter-finals.

Croatia gave Australia its first defeat at the tournament, 9-4, and took first place in Group D to set up a quarter-final meeting with winless Bulgaria.

The Croats were the more efficient team and started with three unanswered goals from Ivan Jankovic, Marko Tadic and Domen Vedlin. Each team Australia would come back by a goal the Croats managed to find the answer in the form of more goals. They entered the half-time break with a 5-1 lead and extended it in the following two periods.

Jankovic and Niksa Trstenjak each scored a pair of goals for Croatia.

Great Britain vs. Latvia 5-6 (2-4, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0)

Latvia finished its group in strong fashion and edged Great Britain 6-5 to enter Thursday’s quarter-finals as first-ranked of Group C in a clash with Argentina.

Defenceman James Archer opened the scoring for Great Britain after 75 seconds of play but Latvia reacted with two goals scored within less than a minute by Roberts Lipsbergs and Aleksandrs Kercs.

Rudolfs Maslovskis and Miks Lipsbergs added two more goals and Dan Hutchinson had one in between for Great Britain for a first-period score of 4-2 in Latvia’s favour.

In the second period Aleksandrs Galkins extended the lead for Latvia on a power play but Karl Niamatali scored Great Britain’s third goal.

Great Britain twice came as close as one goal in the second half of the game. Joey Ganley scored 42 seconds into the third period but a few moments later Miks Lipsbergs restored the two-goal lead with his second marker.

At 2:43 of the fourth period Ben Lowe cut the deficit again but Latvia managed to defend the 6-5 lead for the remainder of the game.

Hungary vs. Argentina 3-4 (2-0, 1-1, 0-1, 0-1, 0-1) OT

Two years ago Argentina lost to Hungary in a shootout, this time they took revenge with a 4-3 overtime win coming back from a 3-1 deficit. It was Argentina’s first win at an IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship in four years.

Marton Mach and Zoltan Revak scored the goals for a 2-0 first-period lead for Hungary. After Rodrigo Irisarri had brought Argentina on the scoreboard early in the second period, Akos Kiss restored Hungary’s two-goal lead.

The Argentines reacted in the second half of the game. Facundo Vadra scored the 3-2 goal at 4:49 of the third period and with 20 seconds left in regulation time – with 6-on-4 players on a power play and with the goalie pulled – Sebastian Bustos tied the game at three to force the first extra period of the World Championship.

At 1:59 of overtime it was Vadra, who scored the game-winning goal for Argentina.

Austria vs. Bulgaria 8-0 (1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-0)

In a game for third place in the group between two winless teams Austria blanked Bulgaria 8-0. The Bulgarians managed to keep the score in the first period low when Johannes Lins scored the only goal but the Austrians increased their goal production.

Canada remains undefeated but beating Germany 6-4 was tough work after a seemingly easy start.

Canada already opened the scoring 44 seconds into the game. Dave Hammond sent a long shot through traffic and Josh Foote scored on the rebound. It was not the start Germany was hoping for as three minutes later goaltender Jochen Vollmer had to leave the net limping.

With 46 seconds left Adam Ross scored the second goal that went in via the right goal post. With seven seconds left he added another one for the 3-0 lead. The goal was reviewed for interference and deemed correct.

Patrick Seifert reacted for the Germans early in the second period when he appeared alone in front of the Canadian net to beat Brett Leggat for the 3-1 marker.

But the Canadians tried to prevent a German comeback. At 3:09 Thomas Woods restored the three-goal lead with a long shot into the top-left corner. And with another distance shot Ross completed his hat trick for the 5-1 lead with 3:46 to go in the second period.

“The first half of the game was good. We played our game and did what we wanted to do,” Ross said.

“In the second half we let up a bit and didn’t stick to our game plan and had to battle hard until the end.”

The Germans improved their play, had more puck possession and scoring chances, and were rewarded with two third-period goals to bring hopes for an equalizer within reach.

Alexander Duck scored Germany’s second goal of the game putting the puck through Leggat’s five-hole after a side pass from Max Schmidle at 5:03 of the third period. Three minutes later Patrick Seifert managed to escape from the Canadian defence and circled the puck around Leggat’s pads for the 5-3 marker. On a power play early in the fourth period Schmidle got credited for a deflected shot that decreased the Canadian cushion to just one marker but 40 seconds later Hammond made it 6-4 with another power-play goal.

Germany continued putting pressure on the Canadian net and played five-on-four with the goalkeeper pulled for final two minutes but with the chances unused Canada’s 6-4 win became final.

Canada will now play the United States for the top spot into the group.

Like in the teams’ last encounter two years ago, a 5-4 overtime win for Finland, the first period ended scoreless. 2,197 spectators saw the Finns outshoot the Czechs 9-4 in the opening frame but their team didn’t capitalize on its chances.

That changed in the second period. It was a six-minute blackout in the Czech defence that allowed the Finns to showcase their skill and decide the game.

A great rush of Jimi Palanto gave Finland the lead at 2:55 of the second period. The Tampere native skated towards the goal crease with three Czechs around him and beat Czech goaltender Ondrej Haloda.

Kari Lohtander added another goal already 64 seconds later with a hard shot into the far top corner. Less than two minutes later Lohtander added another goal when he got the puck after a pass that was interrupted by a Czech skate. A minute later Palanto was left alone at the left boards and beat Haloda for the 4-0 lead after a nice deke. Markus Jokinen added another one with a high shot after a horizontal pass from Palanto.

“It was a good win. We had a good start although we had a couple of mistakes after the 5-0 goal. We have to make sure not to do these,” Lohtander said.

Shortly before the half-time break the Czechs finally found their way into the game. Michal Simo cut the lead with a distance shot on a power play with 1:56 left to finish the first half of the game with a 5-1 lead for Finland. After 91 seconds in the third period Simo scored again to bring the result within reach for his team. But less than three minutes later Janne Laakkonen restored the four-goal lead for Finland.

Laakkonen then was called a minor penalty for high sticking at the end of the period and while the Finn was serving the penalty, Zdenek Kubica scored the third goal for the Czechs.

With the Finnish lead cut to 6-3, the Czechs tried to work on their comeback and had a couple of chances, another power play and a post shot from Simo but Juha Taponen kept his net clean for the remainder of the game while Palanto added a third goal on a breakaway with three seconds left for the final score of 7-3.

Tomorrow the Finnish Lions will meet Sweden in a much anticipated game that will decide about first place in the group.

“Our lovely neighbour Sweden. It couldn’t be easier to motivate us for the last game,” Lohtander said. The game will again be played at 18:00 local time. The Czechs will play Slovenia at 14:00.

USA vs. Slovakia 6-0 (2-0, 3-0, 1-0, 0-0)Highlights<

Team USA won its second game on the second day of the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. After beating Germany 7-3 the Americans blanked Slovakia 6-0.

The Americans outshot the Slovaks 44-12. Travis Noe shone with a hat trick and four points but revealed that the more important number for the team than the six goals scored was the zero goals conceded.

“It was a good game for our team. We want to play good defensive hockey so getting no goal was a priority,” Noe said and added: “Our goalie James Mello had a good game.”

Team USA started their goal galore already with the first shift. 18 seconds into the game Tyler Spezia sent a side pass to Nielsson Arcibal, who converted for the opening marker.

Four minutes later Noe then made it 2-0 with a shot into the near high corner.

Cody Kettler extended the lead with what almost looked like a copy of the second goal after receiving a long pass to the crease from Noe at 5:56 of the second period. Only 13 seconds later Noe scored his second goal of the day by deflecting a Kyle Novak pass through Viktor Valuch’s five-hole for the 4-0 lead forcing Slovakia to use its time-out.

However, coach Imrich Antal’s speech seemed to make inroads only for a few minutes. With 57.4 left in the period Noe completed his hat trick with a point shot on a power play for the 5-0 half-time lead.

Also in the third period the direction was mostly towards the Slovak goal where Vladimir Neumann came in for Valuch after the half-time break. At 10:03 Shane Fox scored Team USA’s sixth goal. It was the last also thanks to Neumann’s great performance.

Sweden vs. Slovenia 4-3 (1-1, 2-1, 0-0, 1-1)Highlights<

While Sweden had an impressive start into the first game it was a bit more troublesome on Monday when Anze Lonear gave Slovenia the lead at 5:33.

With 1:39 left in the first period Jimmy Cronarp tied the game for Sweden. After an Emil Bejmo shot from the right side the puck bounced back from the end boards and Cronarp was at the right place on the other side to put the puck in backhand.

At 1:35 of the second period Slovenia regained the lead with a goal from Peter Frol after a side pass from Jure Sotlar. But again the Swedes found the right answer, this time with a Daniel O’Connor shot from the left face-off dot that beat busy Slovenian goaltender Tomaz Trelc on a power play.

With 42 seconds left before the half-time break Robin Sjoren gave Sweden the lead for the first time with a point shot during another man advantage for the Swedes, the third in the game.

After a scoreless third period it was against Sjoren who scored. 17 seconds into the fourth period he got his second goal after a forward pass from Rasmus Dahlberg Karlsson.

“It’s always nice to score but we play for the win and not for individual success,” Sjoren said. “It was a tough game. We were the more skilled team and created good scoring chances and had good goaltending.”

Mateuz Erman gave Slovenia new hope with 5:06 left in regulation time when he capitalized on a Slovenian power play with a shot from 17 metres. A penalty call again Bejmo for hooking Saso Rajsar in front of the Swedish net gave the Slovenes additional opportunities but the 4-3 lead for Sweden stayed until the final buzzer.

DIVISION I

Australia vs. Hungary 7-2 (0-0, 3-1, 0-0, 4-1)

Australia earned its second win by beating Hungary 7-2. The Australians didn’t have the best start and Hungary’s Akos Kiss scored the first goal of the game at 4:16 of the second period but the Australians reacted with three goals within a span of 64 seconds from Jordan Gavin, Sean Jones and Steve Best.

After a scoreless third period Jones added two more goals for a hat trick and a 5-1 lead for Australia with just 5:31 left in regulation time.

Tamas Lencses made it 5-2 with a power-play marker for Hungary but Liam Jeffries and Michael Haynes added two more goals for Australia in the dying minutes of the game.

Great Britain vs. Austria 5-4 (0-1, 2-3, 2-0, 1-0)

Great Britain came back from a 3-0 deficit after 15 minutes of play to edge Austria 5-4.

Despite being outshot, Daniel Obersteiner, Harry Lange and Johannes Lins scored three unanswered goals for the Austria before the British managed to react. Goals from James Archer and Rob Shelton brought the British one goal away from a tie but Thomas Weiszensteiner made it 4-2 for Austria before the half-time break.

Lee Marrow and Karl Niamatali added two goals for Team GB to tie the game at four in the third period and 34 seconds into the fourth period Sam Jones scored the game-winning goal for the British.

Croatia vs. Argentina 7-0 (0-0, 1-0, 4-0, 2-0)

In a game between two winless teams on the opening day Croatia got an important 7-0 victory over Argentina.

Ivan Jankovic was the man of the match for the Croats with four goals including the first one for the 1-0 lead late in the second period after a tight and scoreless opening frame. The Croats improved after the half-time break with four goals in the third period.

Jankovic usually plays ice hockey for the U20 national team and for Medvescak Zagreb. After a season with Medvescak’s U20 team that competes in the Austrian junior league he hopes to make the senior team that plays in the Russian KHL.

Latvia vs. Bulgaria 18-1 (5-0, 6-0, 5-0, 2-1)

Last year’s promoted team Latvia had no trouble facing this year’s promoted team Bulgaria as they beat their opponent 18-1 and outshot them 50-3.

17-year-old defenceman Tomass Zeile led with four goals including a classic hat trick in the first period while Artjoms Ogorodnikovs scored three goals.

Kristian Semkov scored Bulgaria’s lonely marker for the 16-1 score early in the fourth quarter.

Slovakia won the first period against Canada despite being outshot 10-2 but it wasn’t enough. The Canadians become stronger and rolled to a 5-2 win.

“I’m excited to be here and start with a win. We’re trying to get to know each other and it took a while to get it going,” said Dave Hammond, who scored two of Team Canada’s goals.

64 seconds into the game it was Slovakia’s Juraj Jurik, who opened the scoring on a two-on-one after a vertical pass from Tomas Mery. The Slovaks even got more chances on an upcoming power play but after succeeding on the penalty kill the Canadians improved their play. They missed out on three man advantages in the first period but scored the equalizer on the first power play of the second. Hammond netted the puck with a long shot after pass from Thomas Woods at 1:45.

Although the Canadians continued to dominate they had trouble bringing the puck past Slovak goalie Vladimir Neumann, who deservedly won the player of the game award for his team. It was mainly thanks to him that the score remained tied at one when the teams returned to the dressing rooms for the halftime break.

In the third period the game flow continued to go mainly in one direction and at 5:07 the Canadians got the first lead. After a shot from Adam Ross Neumann didn’t block the puck well enough and Brett Bulmer scored from the right side. Less than two minutes later Dave Hammond made it 3-1 with a shot from an acute angle. And in the third period while falling down James Isaacs managed to score another goal for the 4-1 lead in the fourth period which Richard Vanderhoek extended to 5-1 just 59 seconds later.

While playing with an extra attacker after a delayed penalty Jurik scored his second goal of the night with a shot Canadian goalie Brett Leggat didn’t entirely block with 2:10 left in regulation time but the Canadians were too strong to allow their opponent a comeback.

Slovenia vs. Finland 2-9 (2-3, 0-3, 0-2, 0-1)Highlights

Defending champion Finland had a strong start with a 9-2 victory over Slovenia. The Lions decided the game already in the second quarter and Tampere native Jimi Palanto scored a hat trick.

“I don’t get so many goals normally but most important is that the team wins,” Palanto said. “It was a good start into the tournament but it’s only one game and tomorrow is the next one.”

The 25-year-old opened the scoring on an odd-man situation in front of the Slovenian net at 2:04. Four minutes later the Finns kept the puck in the offensive zone on a power play and after a diagonal pass from Marko Virtala back to Sami Markkanen the latter made it 2-0 with a long shot.

Rok Jakopic gave Slovenia hope with his power-play goal from the crease at 8:59 and in the next shift Simon Zerdin had a similar chance but Sasu Hovi made the save.

The game-tying goal came with 28 seconds left in the period. After a puck battle in front of the crease Jura Sotlar shot the disc high into the net. But it was short-lived joy for the Slovenes because Markkanen beat Slovenian netminder Jura Pavlic with another long shot with seven seconds left in the period.

Palanto with his second goal and Lasse Lappalainen built a three-goal cushion with their second-period markers and with 90 seconds left before the halftime break Lappalainen added another goal for the 6-2 score.

The goal galore continued after the break. Team captain Jesse Saarinen scored the first goal of the third period at 1:30 with a shot from the right face-off dot. With 57 seconds left in the third period Juho Joki-Erkkila got the puck after a giveaway from Peter Frol. He passed to Palanto, who completed his hat trick for the 8-2 goal. Jouni Aalto’s shot into the top-right corner made it 9-2 with 3:19 left in regulation time.

USA vs. Germany 7-3 (2-0, 3-2, 1-0, 1-1)Highlights

Aiming at the third medal in three years after gold in 2013 and bronze in 2014, Team USA started the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship with a convincing 7-3 win over Germany.

“It was a hard game. Germany played very well and made it hard for us to create scoring chances,” said Nathan Sigmund. It was him who was most successful in the offensive zone for Team USA with two markers.

The Americans created a two-goal cushion after the first period and never let the Germans come closer than that anymore.

Tyler Spezia opened the scoring at 6:44 after a horizontal pass from Kyle Novak and shortly after a power play Pat Cannone doubled the lead with a shot from near the goal line at 9:03.

In the second period Travis Noe netted the third goal for the Americans after skating through the right face-off circle but two minutes later Huba Sekesi brought Germany on the score board with a long shot. Nathan Sigmund restored the three-goal lead for the Americans at 5:50 of the second frame and less than two minutes later Matt White made it a 5-1 lead for Team USA.

Alexander Duck brought Germany back with a wraparound goal capitalizing on his own rebound after the puck had bounced back from the end boards.

After seven scoreless minutes in the second half of the game David Makowski scored the 6-2 goal for Team USA after a drop pass from Noe but with his second goal Duck cut the American lead to 6-3 on a power play.

The Germans didn’t manage to score another goal while Sigmund got his second of the opening day with 36 seconds left in regulation time.

Sweden vs. Czech Republic 4-5 (3-0, 0-1, 1-2, 0-2)Highlights

The Czech Republic opened the top division of the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship with a 5-4 comeback win over Sweden. The Czechs for the first time gained the lead with Mikulas Zboril’s game-winner with two minutes left in the game.

Two former World Champion teams opened the top division of the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. The Swedes with new faces on the team did it with early goals but in the end the Czechs were the luckier team.

“It was my first match with the men’s national team,” 21-year-old defenceman Zboril, who previously played tournaments for the junior national inline hockey team and for third-tier ice hockey club HC Prerov, said.

“It is a big chance and pleasure for me to be here. I was lucky that I scored the goal but I’m happy about it.”

In the beginning there was not much evidence that the Czechs could gain points. After 13 seconds the Sweden already had the first chance. Carl Berglund deked a shot to the left and put the puck over the line on the other side of a defeated Czech goaltender Ondrej Haloda. At 1:54 the yellow-and-blue team already made it 2-0. After a deep pass from Daniel O’Connor it was Andreas Jensen, who succeeded in front of Haloda. And with 56 seconds left in the first period, Marcus Lissang extended the lead for a 3-0 period score.

The second period remained scoreless until the Czechs scored their first goal with 2:55 left before the halftime break. Ondrej Jirkuv first hit the crossbar but in the first video review in Inline Hockey World Championship history it could be seen that the puck was over the goal line. Midway through the third quarter David Hrazdira made it a 3-2 game when scoring on a rebound after Swedish goaltender Ludvig Engsund had blocked a Petr Obdrzalek shot. However, less than a minute later Jensen scored his second goal of the game on a breakaway.

Patrik Sebek’s goal from the goal line after a long pass from Michal Simo brought the Czechs back into the game with 55 seconds left in the period. And 74 seconds into the fourth period, David Hrazdira tied the game at four.

The period continued to go in one direction and with 1:59 left in regulation time Mikulas Zboril gave the Czechs the lead for the first time. He scored on a rebound after a blocked Jan Zahradnicek shot forcing the Swedes to use their time-out. But the Swedes didn’t manage to come back and will seek their first win tomorrow against Slovenia while the Czechs will play their next game against host Finland.

DIVISION I

Argentina vs. Australia 3-6 (1-2, 0-1, 1-1, 1-2)

Australia beat Argentina 6-3 in a clash between the two southern hemisphere nations at this tournament.

Nicolas Chiaravalloti opened the scoring for Argentina at 2:08 but the Australian reacted with two quick goals from Steve Best and Jonathon Bremner for the 2-1 first-period lead for Australia which also got a second-period goal from Brenton Fitzgerald.

After the half-time break it was against the Argentines who scored first through Agustin Chiaravalloti but the Australians reacted with three unanswered goals en route to a 6-3 win.

Bulgaria vs. Great Britain 1-16 (1-0, 0-7, 0-5, 0-4)

Newly promoted Bulgaria won the first period against Great Britain after a Vasili Batchvarov goal but in the end it was a clear 16-1 decision in favour of the British who reacted with seven second-period markers.

Nathan Finney, Dan Hutchinson and Karl Niamatali all scored hat tricks; James Archer, Philip Hamer and Sam Jones all scored a pair of goals while Rob Shelton had one marker.

Croatia vs. Hungary 1-5 (1-0, 0-2, 0-2, 0-1)

Hungary opened its World Championship campaign with an important 5-1 victory in a neighbouring clash with higher-seeded Croatia.

Ivan Jankovic brought Croatia the lead after four minutes of play but Hungarian netminder Krisztian Budai didn’t allow another goal while Imre Peterdi and Akos Kiss each scored a pair of goals en route to the 5-1 win. Szilard Sandor also scored for Hungary.

Latvia vs. Austria 12-0 (3-0, 1-0, 3-0, 5-0)

Last year Latvia qualified for the first time for the Inline Hockey World Championship and started with losses until it won against unbeaten Austria. The players from the Baltic nation prepared for another tough game but it turned out to be a lopsided game as the Latvians blanked their opponent 12-0.

Roberts Lipsbergs scored four goals and had two assists while Miks Lipsberg scored two goals and had two assists. Rudolfs Maslovskis also netted two goals.

MARTIN MERK]]>on topInLineinline2015on top04 Czech Republic18 Sweden01 Austria12 LatviaCroatiaHungarySun, 05 Jul 2015 14:55:00 +0200Tampere ready to rollhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9910
16 teams battle at Inline Hockey World ChampionshipThe event takes place in the second-largest urban area of Finland from 5th to 11th July. It’s only the second time after Kuopio in 2005 that the Inline Hockey World Championship takes place in Finland and the Finns couldn’t have selected a better year after winning the last edition one year ago in Pardubice, Czech Republic.

In inline hockey history five different countries have so far managed to win gold and they will be in the focus to do so again this year: the United States (6 titles), Sweden (5), Finland (4), Canada (2) and the Czech Republic (1).

Finland will open the event on 5th July against recently promoted Slovenia while Sweden will play the Czech Republic in the other Group A game. In Group B record champion United States will face Germany on the first day while last year’s silver medallist Canada will take on Slovakia.

After three days of round-robin play and a day off, the final round will begin on Thursday with the cross-over quarter-finals.

According to the same format the Division I will be played with the winner being promoted to the top division of the next Inline Hockey World Championship.

At the secondary rink Great Britain, Latvia, Austria and Bulgaria will compete in Group C, and Australia, Croatia, Hungary and Argentina in Group D. Bulgaria returned to Division I play after winning the European qualification tournament in Sofia against Israel, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia while Argentina also won its qualification tournament at home in Buenos Aires against Hong Kong and Chile.

Storied hockey venue

Tampere is an experienced host for international hockey tournaments. The Tampere Ice Arena, also known as Hakametsa, was originally built to host the 1965 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and was also one of the venues for the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1982, 1991, 1997 and 2003. Tampere was also the main venue of the 2007 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship and of the 1992 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.

The 7,300-seat arena, home of the ice hockey teams Ilves and Tappara, also has two additional rinks. The second rink will host the Division I tournament except for the medal games.

With the tournament taking place roughly two weeks after midsummer, participants can enjoy up to 22 hours of sunlight each day. The teams were welcomed in Tampere with up to 26°C and sunshine this week while they will soon have cooler temperatures on competition days.

Among the sights Tampere can offer is also an ice hockey museum with the Finnish Hall of Fame.

All 46 games streamed live

Like in the last three editions the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship will be streamed live and for free. This time 46 games from both divisions and rinks will be broadcast on IIHF.com. From the top division game highlights will also be made available.

Click here to access the live stream: Top Division, Division I

Teams registered

Argentina was the first team from abroad to arrive in Tampere already last Sunday while the last team arrived in the evening before the start of the tournament. The team rosters of all teams will be published tonight and can be found here: Top Division, Division I

New Rule Book online

Same as ice hockey also inline hockey got a new rule book for the 2015 season, which can be found on the tournament information page. The book has been completely restructured and redesigned to serve as a standalone rule book for inline hockey.

At the main arena where all top division games will take place a video goal judge system will be used for the first time.

In the Olympic Qualification the highest-seeded team of each group has the right to host its group and the Japanese Ice Hockey Federation selected the Tsukisamu Ice Arena in Sapporo.

Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido was the first city in Asia to host the Olympic Winter Games in 1972. It also hosted to Asian Winter Games twice and is set to host the next edition in 2017.

The Tsukisamu Ice Arena was also the venue of the 2008 IIHF World Championship Division I Group B where Hungary surprisingly finished first ahead of Ukraine and Japan to earn promotion to the top division for the first time in 70 years. It also hosted several Asia League games last season.

Ukraine will return to the venue as the second-seeded team and also for Croatia it will be a return to Sapporo after less than eight years. Romania is the fourth team to compete in Group J. The winner of the four-team round-robin event will advance to the Final Olympic Qualification held 1-4 September 2016 in three groups to be hosted in Belarus, Latvia and Norway.

The three group winners of the Final Olympic Qualification will join the pre-qualified top-8 nations Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the USA, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Slovakia as well as host Korea at the 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament in PyeongChang.

Click here for all groups, teams and venues of the Olympic Qualification.]]>on topOlympics10 JapanUkraineCroatiaRomaniaon lefton rightThu, 02 Jul 2015 10:54:00 +0200Euros in NHL up slightlyhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9891
More players born in Europe than U.S.Incredibly, that’s a larger number than what the Americans provided. Some 237 players were born in the U.S., 24.3 per cent.

Similar trends from the previous year repeated themselves. Sweden led the way with 77 players, down one from 2013/14, but the sixth year in a row it led the European contingent. The Czechs were well back in second place with 39, up by two from a year ago. Rounding out the top nations, Russia and Finland both had 35 players in the NHL.

Slovakia declined again, down one player to 13. At its height, the small but fervent hockey-loving nation had 35 players in the NHL, in 2003/04. Incredibly, Switzerland set a record with the same number as Slovakia, 13. Germany, with 10, also set a record for most players ever in the NHL in one season, and for the third year running Denmark had an impressive 8 players.

Austria held steady with three, while Belarus, France, and Latvia all had two. One player came from each of Croatia, Lithuania, Norway, and Slovenia.

Canada led the way with 494 players, or 50.7 per cent of the total NHL population.

As far as rookies are concerned, many of the same trends played out. There were a total of 132 players who skated in their first NHL game in 2014/15. Canada led the way with 60, followed by the U.S. with 32. After that, the Swedes, with 12, were the top European nation again, the eighth straight year they led the way in rookies.

In all, ten nations were represented. Russia and Finland each had six rookies, the Czechs five, Germany and Switzerland three. Austria had two and three nations had one new player: Belarus, Croatia, and Latvia.

Of particular note is that lone Croatian player, Borna Rendulic. He played eleven games with the Colorado Avalanche, becoming the first player born and trained in Croatia ever to play in the NHL. In all, 16 European nations were represented in the NHL during the 2014/15 season.

Nearly every corner of the world will have at least one country competing at the Global Skills Challenge. South America will be represented by Nicolas Fantacone and Iara Haiek from Argentina. Asia will have competitors coming in from China, Hong Kong, and Mongolia among others. New Zealand and Australia each sent two athletes to the inaugural Youth Olympic Games skills challenge three years ago in Innsbruck, and will try to ice a male and female competitor once again in Lillehammer.

The athletes will compete in six skills competitions to determine the 15 best male and the 15 best female athletes that will qualify for the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games.

39 countries held national qualification tournaments from October 2014 to early May including YOG 2016 hosts Norway, who will send Sander Hurrod and Millie Rose Sirum to join the other 30 finalists in Lillehammer.

The Under-16 Skills Challenge was conceived ahead of the first Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck 2012, as a way of getting other countries involved in an ice hockey event beyond the top nations that were competing in the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments.

In 2012, Augusts Valdis Vasilonoks from Latvia and Julie Zwarthoed of the Netherlands won the men's and women's competitions respectively. The final of both competitions were among the best attended at the Games and the event was commended for its innovation and inclusion of non-traditional ice hockey nations.

Click here for a video of the challenges from Innsbruck 2012.

The Skills Challenge will take place between February 12 and 21, 2016, during the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.